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3.0

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1 review

#6 of 27 B&Bs / Inns in Mandaluyong

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HOTEL CLASS

Location

85Good for walkers

Grade: 85 out of 100

47Restaurantswithin 0.5 km

3Attractionswithin 0.5 km

Contact

EDSA Corner Madison St., Mandaluyong, Luzon 1550 Philippines

Getting there

Ninoy Aquino Intl Airport8 kmSee all flights

BoniManila Metro Rail3 min

GuadalupeManila Metro Rail11 min

Nearby restaurants

Lola Maria Restaurant

Nearby attractions

Breakout Philippines - Paragon Plaza

See all nearby attractions

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Victorianlad wrote a review Oct 2019

Melbourne, Australia16941 contributions5060 helpful votes

+1

At face value, great, but WiFi/hot water inoperable and impossible to promptly contact staff

This ZEN Rooms in theory was very good value at P1200 or so per night for a small estimated 30 square metre apartment, but in practice had some shortcomings. One can only check in between 1500 and 2300 hours. The ZEN Rooms staff member, Justin, was dressed in the standard red T-shirt and sat on a couch in the lobby of the very busy SM Light Residences that has three towers of about 40 storeys each. As the entrance to the lifts is through security gates manned by guards, Justin gave me a room key and accompanied me to the room. There were no instructions on what to do on check out with his English being poor. One reached the 45th floor, Tower 2 apartment by travelling in a Tower 1 lift to the 8th floor, and then walking past the swimming pool to Tower 2. There were two lifts for the Tower 1 process and four, very fast ones for the 8th to 45th floor transfer. The apartment had a good view of EDSA and the far more efficient MRT 3 rail line down EDSA's middle, unfortunately only with a train every 9.5 minutes. Buses honking their horns to pick up passengers could still be heard on occasion. There was a kitchenette with two electric stove rings, as well as a good size refrigerator. It was strangely provisioned with two mugs but no glasses, although there were six decanters that may have meant to substitute for these. There wwas also a knife, fork and large spoon but no teaspoons. No dishwashing liquid was provided and nor was free (or any) drinking water. The bathroom had a shower whose hot water did not work. I did not enjoy showering in cold water. On the third day I sent ZEN a text message: no reply. The next day I saw Justin who said he'd turn up at 2000 hours to fix it, but inexplicably fronted at 1915 hours. When he came to the room, I had two Filipino friends with me. He addressed them in Tagalog and did not look at me, which I found rude since I was paying for the room. He was unable to fix the problem. Similarly the Globe internet did not work at all. Justin also could not fix this. It was annoying to be offline despite ZEN's "guarantee" of "fast WiFi. The bed was only a double but because it had a top sheet and not a doona, I preferred it to that offered by many other hotels or accommodation. The curtains were adjacent to the comfortable pillows with one part of the pelmet being tricky, but eventually I managed to pull the curtain over so that huge ads showing on a building down the road - and constantly changing - did not beam into the room. The bathroom also had a missing shelf. Thanks to Justin not replying, I almost ran out of toilet paper. He eventually brought new rolls. The television had cable channels but lacked Australia Plus, German or French channels. There was a small 1.5 cheap looking and not comfortable sofa, plus a high round table and two high back chairs. I rested the suitcase beneath the television on a shelf. Lighting was OK but boring: overhead fluros only. The swimming pool was initially separated into lanes, but by the Sunday of my stay the lanes had been removed. I paid P150 at the property office on the third floor. This eighth floor pool was clean and a pleasure to swim in. There were also two wading pools plus a large grassed area and four covered gazebos, as well as a small children's playground. SM Light Residences staff on the ground or eighth floors are not allowed to hold keys, which was another annoying feature. I have to say many of these staff were unhelpful but they have nothing to do with ZEN Rooms. They claimed to lack a telephone - very odd - and refused to contact ZEN Rooms. What would one do if one lacked a phone, or a suitable SIM card? SM Light Mall is next door and opened in about 2015. It has a good SaveMore supermarket, Shakey's pizza parlour, Wendy's, Hop Chan Tea House and quite a few other dining outlets. The ageing Robinson's Forum shopping centre is about 250 metres away and has a busier good supermarket and department store plus numerous stalls and eateries including another Shakey's. On a Sunday, Robinsons was very busy. There were locals dressed in Halloween costumes. Opposite SM Light Residences, running down the middle of EDSA is the handy Metro Manila MRT 3 'light rail transit' (really heavy rail) Boni station, which on the SM Light side has lifts (elevator4s) though strangely not on the other side of EDSA. I used it a lot but unfortunately trains are only every 9.5 minutes, and routinely crowded to billie-oh except on Sunday mornings. I managed to squeeze on to the first one each time. It was one or two stops to excellent Megamall and dated but upmarket Shangri-La Mall. SM department stores had a sale from Thursday to Sunday so I obtained some great clothing bargains. I attended Mass on Sunday at the very good San Roque (St Roch) parish. One walks across the MRT 3 line via a pedestrian overpass, then briefly towards Makati, then up a side street, cross Boni Avenue and up San Roque Street. The English Mass was at 0845 hours with the middle aged Filipino priest delivering a worthy homily. It was well attended despite being preceded by two Masses in Tagalog that one would expect would have more parishioners attending. There was a piety stall operating after Mass plus vendors selling street food. When checking out, I obtained a taxi at Robinson's Forum after a short walk along EDSA towards Guadalupe and the Pasig River. If ZEN Rooms or the owner of unit 4518 made sure the hot water and WiFi worked properly, this accommodation would receive a higher rating. The difficulty of contacting ZEN's representative and having to leave the key in the room (with the door unlocked) upon departure (sans instructions) were other downsides. I texted Justin who in Tagalog acknowledged the text (using only two English words - 'Sir' and 'noted.')…

ZEN ROOMS LIGHT RESIDENCES EDSA - Guest house Reviews & Price Comparison (Mandaluyong, Philippines) - Tripadvisor

Frequently Asked Questions about ZEN Rooms Light Residences EDSA

Which popular attractions are close to ZEN Rooms Light Residences EDSA?

Nearby attractions include SM Light Mall (0.00 km), Breakout Philippines - Paragon Plaza (0.3 km), and Forum Robinsons (0.4 km).

See all nearby attractions.

What are some restaurants close to ZEN Rooms Light Residences EDSA?

Conveniently located restaurants include Lola Maria Restaurant, TGC The Giving Cafe, and Eduardo's Peri Peri.

See all nearby restaurants.

Are there any historical sites close to ZEN Rooms Light Residences EDSA?

Many travellers enjoy visiting Bonifacio High Street (2.6 km), Fort San Antonio Abad (7.8 km), and Manila South Cemetery (3.2 km).

See all nearby attractions.